Advertisements in Controlled-Environment Communication Systems Using Tablet Computing Devices

ABSTRACT

A tablet computing device and controlled-environment communications processing system implemented process calls for the tablet requesting, via the controlled-environment communications system, a communication link between the tablet and another communications device. A resident of the controlled-environment facility operating the tablet is identified by the tablet to the controlled-environment communications system. The controlled-environment communications system selects advertisement(s) to be played on at least the tablet operated by the resident. The advertisement(s) are played on at least the tablet. The communications link is established by the controlled-environment communications system, between the tablet and the other communications device, before, during or following playing of the advertisement(s) on at least the tablet. Communication is carried out on the tablet, via the communications link, before, during and/or following playing of the advertisement(s).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/305,155also entitled Advertisements in Controlled-Environment CommunicationSystems Using Tablet Computing Devices, filed Jun. 16, 2014, issuingOct. 13, 2015 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,160,866, and which is incorporatedherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments herein are directed, in general, to providing residentcommunication services in a controlled-environment facility and, morespecifically, to methods for providing advertisements before, during orafter such communications on tablet computing devices.

BACKGROUND

Telephone service providers typically charge either the caller or acalled party for any calls made on the service provider's network. Ifthe caller does not have an established account with the serviceprovider, he or she may be able to pay for the call using a prepaidaccount or credit card. When the caller does not have a service provideraccount, a prepaid account, or a credit card, then the caller is usuallynot allowed to make a call. Any call that is initiated but not completedis lost revenue to the service provider.

This situation may arise in a law enforcement context when an arrestee,prisoner, or other detainee, who is being held in a holding cell, jail,prison or other law enforcement facility, does not have a trusteeaccount, calling account, prepaid account or other means by which to payfor telephone calls. The detainee is then unable to initiate calls, butusually desires to make telephone calls. This results in lost revenuefor the law enforcement facility. Depending upon the nature of the lawenforcement facility, the detainee may be offered free calls. Forexample, a recent arrestee may be able to make free telephone calls totry to secure legal representation or bail. These free calls alsorepresent lost revenue to the law enforcement facility and ortelecommunication vendor.

SUMMARY

In accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, acontrolled-environment communication system may include at least onecontrolled-environment resident operated tablet computing device in useby a resident of the controlled-environment facility within thecontrolled-environment facility. The system also includes acontrolled-environment communication processing system, which in turnhas a switch and/or router providing communication connection servicebetween resident operated tablet computing devices and remotecommunications devices.

An advertisement selection engine of the controlled-environmentcommunication processing system may select, based at least in part upona relationship of the resident with the controlled-environment facility,one or more advertisements to be played to the resident on the tabletcomputing device and/or to another party on the remote communicationsdevice(s). This relationship of the resident with thecontrolled-environment facility may be a location in thecontrolled-environment facility, a term of stay remaining for theresident, and/or the like. Additionally, or alternatively theadvertisement selection engine may select one or more advertisements tobe played to the resident on the tablet computing device and/or to theother party on the remote communications device based at least in partupon a relationship of the other party to the communication to thecontrolled-environment facility and/or to the resident. The residentoperated tablet computing device may include global positioning systemfunctionality, and when the relationship of the resident with thecontrolled-environment facility is a location in thecontrolled-environment facility, it may be determined, at least in part,by information from the global positioning system functionality includedin the tablet computing device in use by the resident.

A media server may be a part of controlled-environment communicationprocessing system, used for playing the one or more advertisements. Abilling engine of the controlled-environment communication processingsystem may allow the communication before the one or more advertisementsare played, after the one or more advertisements have been played, orwhile the one or more advertisements are being played. Thereby, inaccordance with various embodiments of the present systems and methods,playing the advertisement may, at least partially, fund thecommunication.

In accordance with such embodiments and other embodiments of the presentsystems and methods, the communication may be a video call and the oneor more advertisements may be video advertisements. The media server mayplay the one or more video advertisements during the videocommunication, with the one or more video advertisements appearing inplace of at least a portion of the background on a display, such as thedisplay of the tablet computing device in use by the resident.

Thus, in accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods,a tablet computing device-implemented process may request acommunication link between the tablet computing device and anothercommunications device. To this end, the tablet computing device mayidentify a resident of a controlled-environment facility operating thetablet computing device to a controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system. The tablet computing device may play video and/oraudio advertisement(s) selected by the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system. In accordance with some embodiments,the tablet computing device may provide global positioning systeminformation for a position of the tablet computing device, such as aspecific location within the controlled-environment facility, to thecontrolled-environment communications processing system for selection ofthe advertisement(s). Before playing of the advertisement(s), followingplaying of the advertisement(s), and/or during playing of theadvertisement(s), communications may be carried out on the tabletcomputing device with the other communications device, via thecommunications link. As noted, the advertisement(s) may be videoadvertisement(s), and the tablet computing device may display theadvertisement(s) in place of at least a portion of a background on adisplay of the tablet computing device, in accordance with certainembodiments of the present systems and methods. Additionally oralternatively, at least one video and/or audio advertisement may beplayed on the tablet computing device upon selection of an applicationprogram on the tablet computing device by the resident.

Hence, embodiments of a tablet computing device andcontrolled-environment communications processing system implementedprocess may, in accordance with the present systems and methods, includerequesting, by the tablet computing device, via thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, a communicationlink between the tablet computing device and another communicationsdevice. A resident of a controlled-environment facility operating thetablet computing device may be identified by the tablet computingdevice, to the controlled-environment communications processing system.

The controlled-environment communications processing system may selectat least one advertisement to be played at least on the tablet computingdevice operated by the resident. Selection of the advertisement(s) bythe controlled-environment communications processing system may bebased, at least in part, upon a relationship of the resident with thecontrolled-environment facility. This relationship of the resident withthe controlled-environment facility may be a particular location of theresident within the controlled-environment facility. Thus, in accordancewith various embodiments the tablet computing device may share globalpositioning system information with respect to a specific location ofthe tablet computing device within the controlled-environment facilitywith the controlled-environment communications processing system. Inaccordance with such embodiments, the selection of the advertisement(s)by the by the controlled-environment communications processing system,may be based, at least in part, on the specific location of the tabletcomputing device within the controlled-environment facility. Inembodiments where the relationship of the resident with thecontrolled-environment facility is a remaining term of stay of theresident in the controlled-environment facility, identification of theresident operating the tablet computing device, by the tablet computingdevice, to the controlled-environment communications processing systemmay be used by the controlled-environment communications processingsystem to determine the remaining term of stay of the resident.Additionally, or alternatively, selection of the advertisement(s) by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system may be based atleast in part upon a relationship of another party to the communicationwith the controlled-environment facility and/or with the resident.

At least the tablet computing device may play the advertisement(s)selected by the controlled-environment communications processing system.In accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, theadvertisement(s) may be at least one video advertisement, and the tabletcomputing device may display the video advertisement(s) in place of atleast a portion of a background on the display of the tablet computingdevice. The communications link may be established by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, between thetablet computing device and the other communications device, before,during or following playing of the advertisement(s) on at least thetablet computing device operated by the resident. Communications arecarried out on the tablet computing device, via the communications link,before, during and/or after the playing of the at least oneadvertisement. Further, at least one video and/or audio advertisementmay be played on the tablet computing device upon selection of anapplication program on the tablet computing device by the resident.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn toscale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of atelecommunications system adapted to employ embodiments of the presentsystems and methods;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary tablet computing device for conducting acall, in accordance with various embodiments of the present systems andmethods;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example tablet computing device implementedprocess for advertisement-enable communications in acontrolled-environment facility, in accordance with at least oneembodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example process implemented by at least atablet computing device and a controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system, according to at least one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Oneskilled in the art may be able to use the various embodiments of theinvention.

Although exemplary embodiments described herein may be deployed in a lawenforcement environment to provide communication services to residents,those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the systems andmethods described and claimed herein may be used in other facilities andlocations to provide communications services to other groups orindividuals. For example, an advertisement-funded communication systemmay be deployed in a hospital or medical facility to allow patients orvisitors to make calls. An advertisement-funded communication system mayalso be provided on a temporary or permanent military base, installationor ship to allow military personnel to make calls. Theadvertisement-funded communication system would also be useful in otherenvironments in which individuals' movements are restricted orprohibited and in which they may not have funds to pay for communicationservices.

Additionally, although exemplary embodiments described herein may referto video and/or voice “calling services,” or the like, it will beunderstood by those of skill in the art that any communication servicesmay be supported by such advertising-funded system. For example, aresident may be required to view or hear an advertisement before orduring access is provided to an email application, text application, avideo conference system, or the like. The advertisement-fundedcommunication system is not limited to two-person calls, but can also beapplied to multi-party communications in which one or more of theparties to the multi-person communication view or hear advertisements.

It will also be understood that the term advertisement as used herein isnot intended to be limited to a commercial advertisement prepared onbehalf of a business organization, but includes any news, information,message, solicitation, jingle, song, lesson, prayer, public serviceannouncement, educational program, or other information that may or maynot be promoting a particular product, service, individual,organization, opinion, or philosophy.

For calls or video communications, which may be funded by advertisers,and/or otherwise, include advertisements, instead of charging the calleror called party, advertising revenue may be used to pay for thecommunication or reduce the cost of the communication and/or relatedequipment. For example, in accordance with embodiments of the presentsystems and methods, the purchase of tablet computing devices used byresidents of the controlled-environment facility to place calls may besubsidized by the advertisements, a Wi-Fi network or the like that thecalls can be placed over using the aforementioned tablets may befinanced by the advertisements, and/or the like.

When a caller attempts to request a communication such as by launching acommunication app (application program), Voice over IP (VoIP) app, videocommunication app, or the like and dialing a number or otherwiseindicating a called party, a communication processing system collectsidentifying information, such as the caller's identification, the calledparty's telephone number, IP addresses and/or other identifyinginformation. If the collected information is associated with a callingaccount, then the communication may be connected in a normal manner andthe calling account may be charged for the cost of the communication.Alternatively, the advertising system may be utilized even if thecollected information is associated with a calling account. If it hasbeen determined that the called party wishes to be connected to thecaller through positive call acceptance, and no calling account isavailable, then the caller is connected before, after or while viewingor listening to an advertisement in order to complete the communication.

If the system determines that the caller will be receiving theadvertisement, then the communication processing system selects anadvertisement to be played. The advertisement may be selected randomly,or based upon the caller's location, demographics, or other parameters.The advertisement is played for the caller. At the end of theadvertisement, the caller may be connected to a called party. Theduration of the call connection to the called party may be limitedand/or may be dependent upon a number or frequency of advertisementsviewed or listened to by the caller. The caller may be offered theopportunity to view or listen to additional advertisements during thecommunication in order to keep the communication connection active.

The called party may also be offered the opportunity to listen to anadvertisement in order to receive an inbound communication from thecaller. The caller and the called party may receive the sameadvertisements or different advertisements. The advertisement for thecalled party may be selected using the same or different criteria usedfor selecting caller advertisements.

The advertisement may be presented to the caller and/or called party asan audible message played over the resident's tablet and whatever devicethe outside party is using for the communication (e.g. another tabletcommuting device, a personal computer, telephone, etc.). Alternatively,the advertisement may be a video presentation, such as may be presentedon the resident's tablet and on the outside party's device. Hence, ifthe outside party's device is a telephone, and the advertisement is avideo, the outside party may only receive the audio portion of the videoadvertisement.

In some embodiments, the caller and/or called party on a videoconferencemay be shown advertisements for the duration of the communicationconnection. The advertisements may be presented in a designated area ofa video display, such as the resident's tablet, or they may be insertedinto the video in place of the original background. In this case, theviewing party would see the other party, but the original backgroundbehind the other party would be replaced with an advertisement.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of atelecommunications system 100 for providing controlled-environmentfacility resident communications services. Telecommunication system 100comprises communication processing system 101, which may include, forexample, switching or routing equipment to support circuit-switched orpacket-based communication connections. Communication processing system101 may support analog and/or digital communications, such as Plain OldTelephone Service (POTS), Voice over IP (VoIP), video communication,email, or any other communication format. One or morecontrolled-environment resident tablet(s) 102 are supported bycommunication processing system 101. In one embodiment,controlled-environment resident tablet(s) 102 is located incontrolled-environment facility 103, such as a jail, prison, holdingcell, or hospital. Communication processing system 101 providescommunication services between controlled-environment resident tablet102 and one or more remote outside communications device(s) 104, whichmay be, for example, located at a residence, business, governmentfacility or public facility located separately fromcontrolled-environment facility 103 and/or controlled-environmentresident tablet 102.

Communication processing system 101 and controlled-environment residenttablet 102 may be provided by the same service provider. Alternatively,communication processing system 101 may provide communication servicesto one or more subscribers' controlled-environment resident tablet(s)102. Communication processing system 101 may be located incontrolled-environment facility 103 or located remotely fromcontrolled-environment resident tablet(s) 102. A service provider'scontrolled-environment resident tablet(s) 102 may be deployed at one ormore locations or facilities. Communication processing system 101 maycommunicate with controlled-environment resident tablet(s) 102 and/orremote outside communications device(s) 104 via any public or privatecommunications network 105, such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), a packet-based communication network, such as the Internet, alocal area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), a cable transmission system, a satellite transmissionsystem, and/or the like, or any other communications network. Directcommunication within the controlled-environment facility between system101 and resident tablet computing device(s) 102 may be over a wirelessnetwork, or the like, and/or in certain circumstances via “dockingstations,” or the like, where resident tablet(s) may be docked and/orconnected, such as via a cable, in order to carry out certain functions,for charging, and the like. Wireless router 106 may be connected tocommunication processing system 101, such as via (network (Internet))access point 107. In turn, wireless router 106 may provide residenttablet computing device(s) 102 wireless access to communicationprocessing system 101 (such as via access point 107, in the illustratedexample).

Outside communications device(s) 104 may be embodied as anycommunication device and are not limited to tablet computing devices andtraditional telephones. For example, outside communications device(s)104 will be understood to include any communication device, including,without limitation, a tablet computing device, touch-tone or rotarytelephone, cellular or mobile telephone, personal digital assistant(PDA), pager, personal or laptop computer running, for example, an emailor VoIP software application, and the like. In embodiments of thepresent systems and methods, outside communications device(s) 104 may beequipped with the capability to facilitate video communications, such asany of the above-mentioned devices, equipped with a video camera.Alternatively, outside communications device(s) 104 may be embodied as akiosk that supports video communications.

Communication processing system 101 comprises a processor-driven deviceor devices, such as switch 110 and/or router 111, configured to receiveand process telephone calls. To process the telephone calls and providethe services described herein, communication processing system 101stores data and software programs or modules in a memory 112 that may belogically or physically divided. The data and program modules include,for example, advertisement selection engine 113, communicationmonitoring engine 114, interactive communication engine 115, mediagateway 116, and billing engine 117. Additionally, communicationprocessing system 101 may also comprise or be in communication with oneor more databases 120, memories, or data storage devices. For example,communication processing system 101 communicates with or comprisesadvertisement database 121, controlled-environment facility database122, resident database 123, recorded communication database 124, andsystem messages database 125.

Hence, in accordance with embodiments of the present systems andmethods, an overall controlled-environment communication arrangement mayinclude at least one controlled-environment resident operated tabletcomputing device (102) in use by a resident of thecontrolled-environment facility, within the controlled-environmentfacility (103). The overall communication scheme may also include acontrolled-environment communication processing system (101), which inturn has a switch (110) and/or router (111) providing communicationconnection service between resident operated tablet computing devices(102) and remote communications devices (104).

In various embodiments, controlled-environment resident tablet 102 islocated in a law enforcement facility, such as a prison, jail, orholding cell. In such embodiments, the user of resident tablet 102 is aprisoner, inmate, arrestee, or other resident at the law enforcementfacility, may use resident tablet 102 to communicate with family,friends, attorneys, bail bondsmen, or other parties. The law enforcementfacility may charge for communication carried out using resident tablet102 and/or for resident tablet 102 itself. However, a resident may beunable to pay for communication services to use with resident tablet 102and/or for the tablet computing device itself, particularly if theresident does not have a commissary or trust account established withthe law enforcement facility, and/or if the balance in such an accountis insufficient. Such accounts may not yet be established if theresident has recently arrived at the facility or is a temporary residentof the facility. In some cases, the controlled-environment facility maydesire to provide communications services to residents, and/or eventablet computing devices to some residents, without a charge, but thefacility may still need to offset the costs incurred in providing suchservices and/or devices.

In such cases, communication processing system 101 andcontrolled-environment resident tablet 102 may allow inmates tocommunicate with third parties, such as friends and family, attorneys,or others, without charge. Instead of charging an account or calledparty to cover the cost of a call, communication processing system 101may use advertising revenue to pay for or reduce the cost ofcommunications using controlled-environment resident tablet 102. Forexample, the resident and/or the called party may be required to hear orview one or more advertisements before a desired communication will beconnected to the called party. After one or more advertisements areplayed, the desired communication connection is completed and theresident and the called party may communicate.

Communication processing system 101 may limit the duration of eachadvertising-funded communication for any predetermined duration. Theresident may be limited to calls lasting, for example, ninety seconds ifthe communication was advertiser funded. The resident and/or calledparty may be required to view, or at least hear, a new advertisement tocontinue the communication for an additional length of time. In someembodiments, the resident may be allowed to make only one or a limitednumber of such advertising-funded calls. Alternatively, communicationprocessing system 101 may allow the resident to make as many such callsas desired. Typically, a new advertisement would be played prior to eachnew communication connection for the resident.

In various embodiments, the resident requests a communication oncontrolled-environment resident tablet 102 by selecting a communicationapp or the like on the tablet. Communication processing system 101detects the communication attempt and either plays one or moreadvertisements to the resident before initiating the requestedcommunication connection, or requests the communication connection tothe called party before playing advertising messages. If both theresident and the called party are connected to the communicationprocessing system 101, direct communication between them may be withhelduntil the advertisements are played on resident tablet 102, remotecommunications device 104, or both.

Communication processing system 101 identifies the resident and calledparty. The identification may be based, for example, on the resident'slocation, a resident identifier, the called party's telephone number, oran identifier for controlled-environment resident tablet 102.Controlled-environment facility database 122 stores, for example, thenumber, location and other pertinent information associated with eachcontrolled-environment phone in the system. Controlled-environmentfacility database 122 may include information indicating which residentsare allowed to use the advertisement-funded calls and/or which residenttablets can be used to make advertisement-funded calls. Facilitydatabase 122 may also include information related to locating residenttablet(s) 102 within controlled-environment facility 103, such as GPScoordinates, spatial coordinates, or the like associated with variouslocations within the facility, such that an inquiry of GPS functionalityin a resident's tablet, can render a location of the resident within thefacility. Communication processing system 101 uses advertisementselection engine 113 to determine which advertisements to play. Basedupon the resident and/or called party's identification, or based uponany other criteria, including random selection, advertisement selectionengine 113 selects an advertisement from advertisement database 121,which stores audio and/or video advertising messages andcharacteristics. Advertisement database 121 may further store dataassociated with each advertising message, such as an advertisementduration, an intended audience, a required or maximum number of plays,and a counter of how many times each advertising message is played.

In particular embodiments, advertisement selection engine 113 ofcontrolled-environment communication processing system 101 may select,based at least in part upon a relationship of the resident withcontrolled-environment facility 103, one or more advertisements to beplayed to the resident on tablet computing device 102 and/or to anotherparty on remote communications device(s) 104. This relationship of theresident with controlled-environment facility 103 may be a location inthe controlled-environment facility, a term of stay remaining for theresident, and/or the like. Resident operated tablet computing device 102may include global positioning system functionality, and when therelationship of the resident with the controlled-environment facility isa location in the controlled-environment facility, it may be determined,at least in part, by information from the global positioning systemfunctionality included in the tablet in use by the resident.Additionally, or alternatively advertisement selection engine 113 mayselect one or more advertisements to be played to the resident on tabletcomputing device 102 and/or to the other party on remote communicationsdevice 104 based at least in part upon a relationship of the other partyto the communication to the controlled-environment facility and/or tothe resident, such as the other party's location, distance from thefacility, other friends or family in the facility, visitation statuswith the facility, and/or the like.

Communication processing system 101 may use communication engine 115, orthe like, to interact with the resident and/or called party by playingsystem messages and recognizing the resident and/or called party'sresponses. For example, upon detection that a new communication has beenrequested, communication engine 115 may select a welcome or introductionmessage from system message database 125. The communication engine 115plays the welcome message to the resident and/or called party to notifythem that an advertisement must be played before the communicationconnection will be completed. Communications engine 115 may also be usedto play or provide the selected advertisements to the resident andcalled party. In certain embodiments, the communication engine 115 maybe replaced by an interactive voice response (IVR) engine, VoiceResponse Unit (VRU) engine, or another similar system, and/or may beassociated with, employ and/or be apart of media gateway 116. Asdiscussed, the advertisement may be played during the communicationbetween the parties. Background audio, such as a message, song orjingle, may be played while the caller and called party are talking.After selecting an advertisement, communication processing system 101may connect the interactive communication engine 115 into an establishedcommunication connection between the parties effectively creating athree-way communication. The interactive communication engine 115 playsthe selected advertisement for all or part of the communicationconnection duration.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present systems andmethods, media server/gateway 116 may be used for playing the one ormore advertisements. Billing engine 117 may allow the communicationbefore the advertisements have been played, after the advertisement(s)have been played, and/or while advertisement(s) are being played. Inaccordance with such embodiments and other embodiments of the presentsystems and methods, the communication may be a video communication andthe advertisement(s) may be video advertisement(s). As noted, mediaserver/gateway 116 may play the video advertisement(s) during the videocommunication, with the video advertisement(s) appearing in place of atleast a portion of the background on a display, such as the display oftablet computing device 102 in use by the resident.

Before, or after the advertisement is played and/or whileadvertisement(s) are playing, communication processing system 101completes a communication connection between the resident and calledparty. Hence, in accordance with various embodiments of the presentsystems and methods, playing the advertisement may at least partiallyfunds the communication. Communication processing system 101 may allowthe communication connection to continue for a predetermined duration,or for any duration. The predetermined duration may be selected basedupon the particular advertisement played or the number of advertisementsplayed or based upon criteria of the resident or called party.Alternatively, all advertisement-funded communication connections may belimited to the same duration.

Communication processing system 101 may use communication monitoringengine 114 to record some or all calls. Communication recordings andcommunication-related data may be stored to recorded communicationdatabase 124. Communication monitoring engine 114 monitors calls forimproper content, such as gang signs, pornography, sexual content, andcriminal activity, and/or may monitor calls for feedback onadvertisements.

In accordance with various embodiments, once improper content isdetected, communication monitoring engine 114 notifies communicationprocessing system 101, which may disconnect the communication, and/oralert a monitoring agent or authority. When the communication isdisconnected, communication processing system 101 may use interactivecommunication engine 115 to inform the inmate of the content violation.Communication processing system 101 may also document revocation of theresident's privileges by recording the violation in the resident'srecord or file in resident database 123. For example, an inmate may beadvised of a system's flexible one-strike rule on improper content whenthe inmate is provided with the inmate's identification number and PIN.By using the system, the inmate agrees to the monitoring and also tocomply with the content restrictions. When the inmate violates theone-strike rule, the system is flexible in how the inmate's access tothe system will be limited. For example, the first violation may resultin a warning from the interactive communication engine 115, a one-daysuspension from use of the telecommunication system, or a completerevocation of telecommunication privileges. While the system is flexiblein how the inmate is disciplined for violations of the improper contentrule, the system strictly enforces the improper content rule. In someembodiments, the communication monitoring engine 114 will also send thesuspected communication to prison officials for review. Upon review, theprison official may reinstate the inmate's privileges by overwriting theviolation in the resident database 123. Resident database 123 storesresident files, such as identification information for each inmate,assigned PIN, phone privileges, criminal record, and other similarinformation.

As noted, in accordance with various embodiments, a communicationmonitoring engine 114 may capture communication content for a timeperiod following playing of the advertisement(s). Also, interactivecommunication engine 115, or the like may pose one or more questions,such as via resident tablet 102 or remote communications device 104,during recording of the communication to record responses or reactionsto the one or more questions. In accordance with such embodiments,interactive communication engine 115, or the like may also present ameans, via resident tablet 102 and/or remote communications device 104,to connect to an advertiser of the advertisement. Recorded communicationdatabase 124, or the like may store the captured communication contentfrom the time period following playing of the advertisement, and thecaptured communication content stored on the recorded communicationdatabase may be associated with a respective advertisement, therein. Anadvertisement feedback aggregation and analysis engine, or the like mayaggregate the communication content from a time period following playingof the advertisement from a plurality of calls and/or analyze thecommunication content. One or more advertiser databases, or the like may(also) store captured communication content, which is being provided toan advertiser. Thereafter, advertisement selection engine 113 may applyfeedback analysis resulting from analyzing the communication contentfrom the time periods following playing of each advertisement to futureselection of advertisements.

In accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods,pop-up advertisements may appear on a resident's tablet before calls orvideos and/or when various apps are accessed. In some embodiments theadvertisements may additionally or alternatively appear during the videoor audio communication itself. As a further example, such advertisementsappearing during a communication may, in various embodiments, be playedin the background during a video communication. FIG. 2 illustrates ablock diagram of an exemplary tablet computing device 102, which may beused for conducting a video communication while displayingadvertisements to the caller or called party. As noted, advertisementsmay be used in conjunction with such calls to help defray not onlycommunication costs, but also the cost of resident tablet computingdevices, themselves. Although described from the perspective of thecaller, device 102, or the like would operate in a similar manner forthe other call party or any other party to a multi-party communication.

Tablet computing device 102 may be particularly adapted for use in acontrolled-environment. For example, in a correctional institution,jail, or the like, such a tablet computing device may be“stripped-down,” particularly from the standpoint of what applicationsare provided or allowed on tablet computing device 102, and/orconnectivity afforded such a tablet computing device. For example, sucha resident tablet computing device may be adapted to only connect to anetwork provided by the controlled-environment facility, and/or in onlycertain locations, within the controlled-environment facility, such asmay be controlled by availability of Wi-Fi access, or the like, onlybeing available in certain areas. Also, the resident tablet may have afew fixed application programs (apps) pre-installed on the device, andinstallation of further apps on the device may be forbidden (i.e.prevented by modifications to the device's operating system, or thelike) and/or restricted, such as by requiring permission from a facilityadministrator, or the like.

Apps provided on such a resident tablet computing device might include acommunication app, which might be used to request and/or carry out audio(i.e. VoIP) calls, and/or video calls. A further app, such as acommercially available video communications or VoIP app may be used inconjunction with the communications app, with the communications appproviding an interface with the controlled-environment's communicationprocessing systems, such as system 101 discussed above, to provideinformation related to the communication, such as the identity of theresident, and the like, and with the facility's communication processingsystem vetting the communication before it is connected and carried outusing the commercially available communications app. In accordance withembodiments of the present systems and methods, advertisements may bepresented to the resident, and/or the other call party, before thecommunication is handed-off to the commercially available communicationsapp. Thereby, such advertisements may be used in conjunction with suchcalls to help defray not only communications costs, but also inaccordance with some embodiments, the cost of resident tablets,themselves.

In video calls, camera 201 may capture moving or still video images ofthe caller and microphone 202 captures audio from the caller. The imagesand audio are transmitted to the other call party. The other call partymay use a similar device that transmits images and audio from the calledparty to the caller, such as another tablet computing device,smartphone, video enabled personal computer, or the like. Receivedimages of the other call party are displayed on screen 203 and calledparty audio is played through speaker 204. The caller can enter dialeddigits or other information to the communication processing system,communications app, and/or the like, via user interface 205.

A communication connection between the parties may be established asdescribed above. Either or both of the parties may be asked to receivean advertisement in order for the video communication to continue. Asnoted above, such an advertisement(s) may be played before thecommunication commences and/or after the communication ends. However, inaccordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, insteadof playing the advertisement before completing the communicationconnection, the parties may be connected and one or more advertisementsmay be broadcast to either or both parties during all or part of thecommunication. Advertising images, such as logos, video, still pictures,or graphics, may be displayed in a designated image area 206. Forexample, the image of the other call party 207 may be offset up/down orleft/right on display 203 to make room for image area 206. Image area206 may include text, in accordance with embodiments of the presentsystems and methods.

An additional or alternative text area 208 may be displayed on screen203. Text area 208 may be a scrolling or still text message containingthe selected advertisement. In some embodiments, both image area 206 andtext area 208 are displayed during a communication. Each area maydisplay advertisements that are related, unrelated, coordinated, oruncoordinated, such that the advertisements in image area 206 and textarea 208 may be part of the same advertising campaign or from differentcampaigns. More than one image area and text area may be usedsimultaneously during the communication. The location of the image areaand text area may also change during the communication or fromcommunication to communication. The advertiser may select how and wherethe advertisement should be displayed, or how the advertisement shouldmove during a communication. If the advertisement is moving, such as animage area 206 that moves or slides around the screen, then the viewingparty may be more likely to notice and watch the advertisement. A videoprocessing engine, which may be a part of media gateway 116 (FIG. 1), incommunication processing system 101 may be used to add image area 206and text area 208 to the displayed video (as well as to facilitate thevideo communication, as discussed above).

In some embodiments, screen 203 may display an image 207 of the oppositeparty, but the remainder of the screen area 209 may be used for anadvertisement. This would allow the advertisement to be played in thebackground 209 of the opposite party 207. Chroma key compositing orchroma keying may be used to insert advertisements in the image behindthe opposite party. The opposite party may be placed in front of agreenscreen or bluescreen. During the communication, the green or bluecolor is replaced in the video image with an advertisement by mediagateway 116's video processing engine. Alternatively, the other callparty is not located in front of a special background, but mediagateways 116's video processing engine analyzes the video image from theother call party and identifies the portion of the image thatcorresponds to the other call party, such as by observing movement ofthe other call party and lack of movement of the background during thecommunication. The video processing system may treat any video that isnot part of the other call party image as background and may insertadvertisements by replacing the background area.

In various embodiments, tablet computing device 102 may be used forvisitation in a law enforcement environment. Hence, one party, asdiscussed, may be a resident in a restricted access facility, such as aprison, and the other party a friend, family member, bail bondman orattorney at some location separated from the resident. The resident orthe other party may schedule a video visitation session. The residentcould participate in the communication using tablet computing device 102at the facility, and the other party would use a similar device in aseparate area of the facility, or at a location remote from thefacility. Alternatively, the other person may use a personal or laptopcomputer with a web camera, or the like to participate in thecommunication. The video connection between the parties may beestablished and supported by an organization, organizations orcommercial service that provides computer services and software for usein telecommunications industry.

Further apps provided on resident tablets might include apps ofparticular interest to residents of the controlled-environment facility.For example, tablet computing devices provided to inmates ofcorrectional facilities, might include apps that may be of particularuse to an inmate, in general, such as access to a legal researchservice, or of more specific interest, such as providing an inmatenearing release, access to employment searching apps or the like.

Advertisements, such as advertisements by bail bondsmen, lawyers,facility commissary, and/or the like, might not only be presented duringinmate calls on a tablet computing device, but also during other use,including general use, listening to music, accessing permitted websites,and the like. As with calls, income from such advertisements may be usedto help defray not only communications costs, but also in accordancewith some embodiments, the cost of resident tablet computing devices,themselves. These advertisements may be related to the subject matter ofan accessed app. For example, when an inmate accesses a job app on hisor her tablet, an advertisement related to employment may pop-up, suchas an advertisement related to a document services company, anaffordable used car dealership, or such.

Further, such inmate tablet computing devices may be used to help soonto be released inmates transition. For example, the tablet may be usedto communicate with a future employer, or the like. As such, tablets maybe sponsored, or otherwise subsidized by organizations or companies,assisting with the transition of inmates into society.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present systems andmethods, in a correctional facility environment, a tablet may beprovided to an inmate, more-or-less free of charge, by an entity such asa facility services provider. Such embodiments may be practical if itseems the inmate will make use of the tablet for sometime, and theinmate would seem to be able to pre-pay for services related to thetablet, such as communications services, Internet access, musicsubscription services, legal research services, employment searchservices, and/or the like. For example, the inmate may pay a flatmonthly fee, such as from a trust account maintained by the facility forthe benefit of the inmate, for access to a number of services over thetablet, and the tablet may be provided free of charge, butadvertisements may appear on the tablet when in use, not only in use forcommunications, but also in use of other apps, to help defray costs ofthe tablet (and/or services).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of example tablet computing device implementedprocess 300 for advertisement-enable communications in acontrolled-environment facility, in accordance with at least oneembodiment. Therein, a communication link is requested between thetablet computing device (102) and another communications device (104) at301. To this end, the tablet computing device (102) may, at 302,identify a resident of a controlled-environment facility operating thetablet to a controlled-environment communications processing system(101). At 303, the tablet computing device may play video and/or audioadvertisement(s) selected by the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system. In accordance with some embodiments, the tablet mayprovide global positioning system information for a position of thetablet, such as a specific location within the controlled-environmentfacility, to the controlled-environment communications processing systemfor selection of the advertisement(s). Before, following, and/or duringplaying of the advertisement(s), communications may be carried out at304 on the tablet computing device with the other communications device,via the communications link. As noted, the advertisement(s) may be videoadvertisement(s), and the tablet may display the advertisement(s) inplace of at least a portion of a background on a display of the tabletcomputing device, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentsystems and methods.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of example process 400 implemented by at least atablet computing device (102) and a controlled-environmentcommunications processing system (101), according to at least oneembodiment. Process 400 may, in accordance with the present systems andmethods, include requesting at 401, by the tablet computing device(102), via the controlled-environment communications processing system(101), a communication link between the tablet computing device andanother communications device (104). A resident of acontrolled-environment facility operating the tablet may be identifiedby the tablet, to the controlled-environment communications processingsystem at 402. A resident may input, on the tablet, an identificationnumber and identification verifier, such as a PIN, radio frequencyidentification (RFID), biometric identifier, or other similar means ofverifying the inmate's identity. Alternatively, the communicationprocessing system may identify the caller by the particular tabletcomputing device used. The caller's identification may be used to selectadvertisements to be played or whether the caller is authorized to placethe communication, such as by using the inmate's identification numberand/or identification verifier to check the inmate's privileges in aresident database (123).

Further, the communication processing system may determine whether thecaller and/or the other call party meet the criteria for anadvertisement-funded communication. If the caller is approved to makecalls using the advertising-funded communication system, then thecommunication may be at least partially funded by advertisement(s), inaccordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods. Forexample, in some embodiments, when the communication processing systemdetects a communication link is requested between a first party and asecond party, instead of determining whether a billing account appliesto the communication, the communication processing system applies a setof advertising rules to the first party and/or second party. Thecommunication processing system determines, based on the advertisingrules, whether to play one or more advertisements to the first partyand/or the second party. An advertisement selection engine (113) and/orbilling engine (117) may apply the advertising rules, for example. Thecommunication processing system then connects the communication linkbetween the parties after playing advertisements to the selectedparties.

A message may be played to the caller and/or the other call party,wherein the message may inform them that they must listen to or watch anadvertisement before the communication will be completed. The messagemay identify any communication limitations, such as communicationduration limits, or provide warnings, such as a communication-monitoringor communication-recording notice. Messages may be played to the callerand called party using an interactive communication system (115), forexample.

At 403, the controlled-environment communications processing system mayselect at least one advertisement to be played at least on the tabletcomputing device operated by the resident. The system selects anadvertisement to play to the caller and/or called party using, forexample, an advertisement selection engine (113). The advertisementselection engine may select the advertisement from an advertisementdatabase. This may be a random selection, or some pre-defined selectioncriteria may be employed. The pre-defined selection criteria may comparethe caller or called party identity, location or other characteristicsto select advertisements. The system may compare characteristicsassociated with each advertisement and stored in the advertisementdatabase with characteristics of the caller and called party to selectwhich advertisement to broadcast. As an example, the advertiser mayindicate certain key characteristics of the advertisement, such asbusiness type, geographic location, or intended audience. Thesecharacteristics may be used as a filter for the advertisement selectionengine. The advertisement selection engine uses information associatedwith the other call party's number, the caller identification number,and the controlled-environment phone location in selecting whichadvertisement message to play. In certain embodiments, theadvertisements may also be categorized based on the advertiser's paymentlevel. Advertisers pay a fixed fee to attain certain advertisementlevels, which would guarantee that the advertisement plays a certainnumber of times. In some embodiments, the advertisers may pay for theadvertisement based on the time of day that the system plays theadvertisement. The advertisement database or advertisement selectionengine may track the number of times each advertisement is played. Insuch embodiments, the advertisement selection engine may be responsiblefor ensuring that each advertisement using this payment plan is playedthe correct number of times or at the proper time of day.

In accordance with various embodiments, selection of theadvertisement(s) at 403 by the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system may be based, at least in part, on upon a relationshipof the resident with the controlled-environment facility. Thisrelationship of the resident with the controlled-environment facilitymay be a particular location of the resident within thecontrolled-environment facility. Thus, in accordance with variousembodiments the tablet may share global positioning system informationwith respect to a specific location of the tablet within thecontrolled-environment facility with the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system. In accordance with such embodiments,the selection of the advertisement(s) by the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system, may be based, at least in part, on thespecific location of the tablet within the controlled-environmentfacility. For example, if the communication originates from a jailbooking area, the system will search for advertisements for attorneys,bail bondsmen, and similar services in the local area.

In embodiments where the relationship of the resident with thecontrolled-environment facility is a remaining term of stay of theresident in the controlled-environment facility, identification of theresident operating the tablet computing device, by the tablet, to thecontrolled-environment communications processing system at 402 may beused by the controlled-environment communications processing system todetermine the remaining term of stay of the resident.

Additionally, or alternatively, selection of the advertisement(s) by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system may be based atleast in part upon a relationship of another party to the communicationwith the controlled-environment facility and/or with the resident. Forexample, the relationship between the parties may be used to selectadvertisements. By way of further example, if the caller calls from onecity to a called party in a distant city, the system may search forlocal or national advertisements for consumer goods, calling cards, orother products and services that either the caller or the other callparty could purchase. The caller and called party may hear or view thesame advertisement or different advertisements, in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present systems and methods.

At 404, at least the resident tablet computing device (102) may play theadvertisement(s) selected by the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system (101). In accordance with embodiments of the presentsystems and methods, the advertisement(s) may be at least one videoadvertisement, and the tablet may display the video advertisement(s) inplace of at least a portion of a background on the display of the tabletcomputing device. In accordance with some embodiments of the presentsystems and methods, the communication processing system may or may notplay advertisements to the other call party. In some embodiments, thesystem connects to the other call party and notifies them that toreceive an incoming communication, they must listen to or view anadvertisement. If the other call party agrees, then the processcontinues. If the other call party does not want to listen to theadvertisement or receive the communication, then the communication maybe terminated. In embodiments where advertisement(s) are played for onlythe calling party, when the caller has heard or viewed theadvertisement(s), the communication processing system may route thecommunication to the other call party to complete the connection. Inthis embodiment, the other call party does not interact with thecommunication processing system or the advertisement(s).

The communications link may be established at 405 by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, between thetablet computing device and the other communications device, followingplaying of the advertisement(s) on at least the tablet operated by theresident, and/or during play of the advertisement(s) on at least thetablet operated by the resident. The communication processing system mayalert the caller that the communication is being connected prior tocompleting the connection. At 406, communications are carried out on thetablet, via the communications link, following playing of the at leastone advertisement and/or during playing of the at least oneadvertisement.

After the communication connection is completed in step 405, thecommunication may be monitored and/or recorded, such as for impropercontent and/or for feedback on advertisement(s). In certain embodiments,the system plays more than one advertisement to the parties. The systemmay be set to play multiple advertisements or the parties may choose toincrease communication time by choosing to listen to multipleadvertisements. The caller may make this selection either before thecommunication is connected or once the communication time is expiring.

It will be understood that the term advertisement as used herein is notintended to be limited to a commercial advertisement prepared on behalfof a business organization, but includes any news, information, message,solicitation, jingle, song, lesson, prayer, public service announcement,educational program, or other information that may or may not bepromoting a particular product, service, individual, organization,opinion, or philosophy. In some embodiments, the caller and/or calledparty advertisement may be a survey or other interactive activity inwhich the caller and/or called party are requested to answer questions,give opinions, or provide some other active response.

In certain embodiments, the advertisers pay for the advertisement basedon the number of times the system has played the advertisement over apredetermined period. The advertisement database may track the number oftimes each advertisement is played over a billing period, for example.At the end of each billing cycle, the billing engine bills theadvertiser based on the number of times the advertisement is played inthat billing period. Alternatively, the advertiser may pay a certain feeto have the advertisement played a certain number of times during thebilling period. An advertisement selection engine may then track thenumber of times the advertisement is broadcast and may select messagesfor broadcast based upon an available number of plays remaining in thebilling period. For example, an advertisement that has been played arelatively fewer number of time compared to other advertisements in thedatabase may be weighted so that it is more likely to be selected forbroadcast.

In accordance with various embodiments, selected advertisement(s) areplayed to the respective call party and communication content may becaptured for a time period following playing of the advertisement(s). Inaccordance with some embodiments, the resident and/or the other party tothe communication may be offered an opportunity to connect to anadvertiser sponsoring the advertisement. During recording of thecommunication, one or more questions may be posed to the resident and/orthe other party to the communication, thereby recording responses orreactions of the resident and/or the other party to the communication tothe one or more questions. The captured communication content from thetime period following playing of the advertisement may be stored to adatabase. Communication content from a time period following playing ofthe advertisement from a plurality of calls may be aggregated and/oranalyzed. Captured communication content from the time period followingplaying of the advertisement may be provided to an advertiser. Hence,captured communication content may be associated with a respectiveadvertisement and stored to a database. Thereafter, stored associatedcaptured communication content may be aggregated and analyzed. Resultinganalysis of the communication content from the time period followingplaying of an advertisement may be applied to future selection ofadvertisements to play to a resident and/or selection of a same ordifferent advertisement to play to another party to a communication.

Thus, in accordance with such embodiments, software, system or methodembodiments for providing controlled-environment communication servicesadvertisement feedback may capture communication content for a timeperiod following playing of an advertisement presented during an audioor video communication between a resident of a controlled-environmentfacility and another call party. Such embodiments may pose one or morequestions to the resident and/or the other call party, during recordingof the communication to record responses and/or reactions to the one ormore questions. Captured communication content may be associated with arespective advertisement and the resulting associated capturedcommunication content stored to a database. The stored associatedcommunication content from a plurality of calls may be aggregated andthe aggregated communication content provided to an advertiser foranalysis. The resulting analysis of the aggregated communication contentmay be applied to future selection of advertisements.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Itshould be appreciated that the conception and specific embodimentdisclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designingother structures for carrying out the same purposes of the presentinvention. It should also be realized that such equivalent constructionsdo not depart from the invention as set forth in the appended claims.The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of theinvention, both as to its organization and method of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages will be better understood from thefollowing description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, thateach of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration anddescription only and is not intended as a definition of the limits ofthe present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A controlled-environment facility communicationsystem comprising: at least one controlled-environment facility residentoperated tablet computing device in use by a resident of acontrolled-environment facility within the controlled-environmentfacility; and a controlled-environment facility communication processingsystem comprising: a switch and/or router providing communicationconnection service between resident operated tablet computing devicesand remote communications devices; an advertisement selection engineselecting, based upon pre-defined selection criteria, one or more pop-upadvertisements to be presented to the resident on the tablet computingdevice and/or to another party on the remote communications device; amedia server presenting the one or more pop-up advertisements; and abilling engine allowing a communication connection between the residentoperated tablet computing device and the remote communications devicebefore the one or more pop-up advertisements are displayed, after theone or more pop-up advertisements have been displayed, and/or while theone or more pop-up advertisements are being displayed.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria comprise callerand/or called party characteristics.
 3. The system of claim 2, whereinthe selection engine selects the one or more pop-up advertisements bycomparing the caller and called party characteristics.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria comprisecharacteristics associated with each pop-up advertisement.
 5. The systemof claim 4, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria further comprisecaller and/or called party characteristics and the selection engineselects the one or more pop-up advertisements by comparingcharacteristics associated with each pop-up advertisement with thecaller and/or called party characteristics.
 6. The system of claim 4,wherein the pre-defined selection criteria further comprise callerand/or called party characteristics, the characteristics associated witheach pop-up advertisement comprise advertiser-indicated characteristicsof the pop-up advertisement including business type, geographiclocation, and/or intended audience, and the selection engine selects theone or more pop-up advertisements by comparing characteristicsassociated with each pop-up advertisement with the caller and/or calledparty characteristics.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the billingengine uses advertising revenue to pay for the communication and/orreduce the cost of the tablet computing device.
 8. A tablet computingdevice implemented method comprising: requesting, by the tabletcomputing device, a communication link between the tablet computingdevice and another communications device; identifying, based on thetablet computing device being operated by the resident, a resident of acontrolled-environment facility operating the tablet computing device,to a controlled-environment communications processing system;displaying, on the tablet computing device, at least one pop-upadvertisement selected by the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system; and communicating, on the tablet computing device,with the other communications device, via the communications link,before displaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement, followingdisplaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement, and/or duringdisplaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement.
 9. The tabletcomputing device implemented method of claim 8, wherein the at least onepop-up advertisement selected by the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system is selected based upon pre-definedselection criteria.
 10. The tablet computing device implemented methodof claim 9, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria comprise callerand/or called party characteristics.
 11. The tablet computing deviceimplemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one pop-upadvertisement selected by the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system is selected based upon comparing the caller and calledparty characteristics.
 12. The tablet computing device implementedmethod of claim 9, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria comprisecharacteristics associated with each pop-up advertisement.
 13. Thetablet computing device implemented method of claim 12, wherein thepre-defined selection criteria further comprise caller and/or calledparty characteristics and the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system selects the at least one pop-up advertisement bycomparing characteristics associated with each pop-up advertisement withthe caller and/or called party characteristics.
 14. The tablet computingdevice implemented method of claim 12, wherein the pre-defined selectioncriteria further comprise caller and/or called party characteristics andthe characteristics associated with each pop-up advertisement compriseadvertiser-indicated characteristics of the pop-up advertisementincluding business type, geographic location, and/or intended audienceand the controlled-environment communications processing system selectsthe at least one pop-up advertisement by comparing characteristicsassociated with each pop-up advertisement with the caller and/or calledparty characteristics.
 15. The tablet computing device implementedmethod of claim 8, further comprising using advertising revenue to payfor the communication and/or to reduce the cost of the tablet computingdevice.
 16. A tablet computing device and controlled-environmentcommunications processing system implemented method comprising:requesting, by the tablet computing device, via thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, a communicationlink between the tablet computing device and another communicationsdevice; identifying, based on the tablet computing device being operatedby the resident, a resident of a controlled-environment facilityoperating the tablet computing device, to the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system; selecting, by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, at least onepop-up advertisement to be presented at least on the tablet computingdevice operated by the resident; displaying, at least by the tabletcomputing device, the at least one pop-up advertisement selected by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system; establishingthe communications link, by the controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system, between the tablet computing device and the othercommunications device, before the displaying of the pop-up advertisementon at least the tablet computing device operated by the resident,following the displaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement on atleast the tablet computing device operated by the resident, or duringthe displaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement on at least thetablet computing device operated by the resident; and; communicating, onthe tablet computing device, via the communications link, beforedisplaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement, followingdisplaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement and/or duringdisplaying of the at least one pop-up advertisement.
 17. The tabletcomputing device and controlled-environment communications processingsystem implemented method of claim 16, wherein selecting, by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, at least onepop-up advertisement is based upon pre-defined selection criteria. 18.The tablet computing device and controlled-environment communicationsprocessing system implemented method of claim 17, wherein thepre-defined selection criteria comprise caller and/or called partycharacteristics.
 19. The tablet computing device andcontrolled-environment communications processing system implementedmethod of claim 18, wherein selecting, by the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system, at least one pop-up advertisementfurther comprises comparing the caller and called party characteristics.20. The tablet computing device and controlled-environmentcommunications processing system implemented method of claim 17, whereinthe pre-defined selection criteria comprise characteristics associatedwith each pop-up advertisement.
 21. The tablet computing device andcontrolled-environment communications processing system implementedmethod of claim 20, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria furthercomprise caller and/or called party characteristics and selecting, bythe controlled-environment communications processing system, at leastone pop-up advertisement further comprises comparing characteristicsassociated with each pop-up advertisement with the caller and/or calledparty characteristics.
 22. The tablet computing device andcontrolled-environment communications processing system implementedmethod of claim 20, wherein the pre-defined selection criteria furthercomprise caller and/or called party characteristics, the characteristicsassociated with each pop-up advertisement comprise advertiser-indicatedcharacteristics of the pop-up advertisement including business type,geographic location, and/or intended audience, and selecting, by thecontrolled-environment communications processing system, at least onepop-up advertisement further comprises comparing characteristicsassociated with each pop-up advertisement with the caller and/or calledparty characteristics.
 23. The tablet computing device andcontrolled-environment communications processing system implementedmethod of claim 16, further comprising the controlled-environmentcommunications processing system using advertising revenue to pay forthe communication and/or to reduce the cost of the tablet computingdevice.